Calvin at Camp: Ghostmaster
by Blue Paratroopa
Summary: Halloween special! In a story that takes a generally darker turn a few chapters in, a bunch of ghosts invade the camp! Based off the game Ghostmaster, but it doesn't really matter if you've never played it.
1. Searching

This story is based off the great video game "Ghost Master," so it will make a bit more sense if you've played that first. Still, even if you haven't you'll probably like it, as there's enough Calvin and the Eds. This right here is the true Halloween special.

* * *

The Darkling was once the most powerful ghost in the world and loved to tortured mortals. But after multiple exorcisms, he was soon left with only a little bit of power. He was luckily in an area with many ghosts. But the ghosts stayed out of the way of lowly mortals. Using his last bits of power, the Darkling took control of their minds, making them obey him. Somewhere in that area, he knew, there was a book with a ritual to bring back all of his powers, and the ritual could only be preformed by mortals. The ghosts' job was to get the kids at a nearby camp to preform the ritual to bring him back!

It was a rainy day at camp. Outside, three typical sheet ghosts, Boo, Wendell, and Quiver hovered around the camp building. Boo looked determined, Wendell looked bored and quite nerdy with his silly glasses on. Quivers was the fattest of them, and looked nervous as ever.

"Hurry up!" whined Quiver. "We gotta find some kids to preform the ritual!"

"Well, I was, like, eavesdropping, and I heard about these nerdy kids who like aliens and stuff," said Wendell. "Do aliens count as ghosts?"

Boo rolled his ghostly eyes. "Wendell, you're such a newby ghost! Aliens are NOT ghosts! We've gotta find some kid who would love to bring back an ancient demon ghost!"

Quivers thought of the Darkling and hid behind a wall. "The Darkling really scares me...do you think something bad's gonna happen?"

Boo kept flying, ignoring his friend. "Quiver, relax...for a change."

"What makes you think you're so great, Boo?" asked Wendell.

"'Cause I'm THE ghost!" replied Boo. "I've got the moaning, the chains...watch this..."

Boo flew around little Jimmy, who was out for a walk. "BOO!" With a screech, Jimmy ran away in terror.

"Hey!" said Wendell. "The Darkling said that we couldn't show ourselves to the mortals yet!"

"Is the Darkling here?" asked Boo. "I don't think so!"

A huge thug ghost with a machine gun appeared. His name was Knuckles. With a deep voice, he said, "Yo, boys, word's reached the Darkling that you guys are slacking off. He don't like that."

Another ghost, Blair Whisp, flew up. He was a small disembodied skull. "Yeah, we're all looking, too, and you're just scaring people!"

Not easily intimidated, Boo stuck by his point. "SO! I'm a ghost! I'm supposed to scare people!"

"Not if you scare off the guy we're supposed to find! Keep looking!"

Quiver was already flying away. "I knew this would happen! The Darkling will hate us!

Boo sighed and flew around Quiver, stopping him. "Eh, relax! He still hasn't come to power yet! He can't do a thing to us now! In fact, I think we should forget about him and go off and---" A strange jolt went through Boo's head. He fell in pain, landing with a cartoony SPLAT on the ground. "Weird...it was like something made me stop and..." Boo changed his voice to a drone-like one. "Must...serve...Darkling..."

Down below the Earth, the Darkling was listening to Boo. He was a huge, demon skeleton-like creature, obviously pure evil. He was the one who had zapped the odd ghost. "'Can't do a thing...' I can control your mind! Once they get the children to preform the ritual, I'll be back to torture mortals forever!"

Oblivious to the invisible ghosts in the room, Calvin and Hobbes were running around inside.

"What should we play?" asked Calvin.

"Well, it's raining out...I say we tell ghost stories!" said Hobbes.

"I've got a great one...'The Haunted House That Had a Curse With a Whole Lot of Blood and Gore!'"

Two ghosts sat next to them. One was Terroreyes, a floating brain, and the other was Archlight, a corpse.

"Hey, I like this kid!" said Terroreyes, who loved blood and gore.

"He could be the one who'll do the ritual!" mused Archlight.

"Ghosts are pretty scary," Hobbes was saying.

"Yeah, good thing they're fake," agreed Calvin.

"FAKE!" screamed Archlight, erupting in a green fire. "We can't use a nonbeliever! The Darkling says that at least one of the people doing the ritual has to truly believe!"

Suddenly, Hobbes noticed Archlight. "Hey...IS THAT A CORPSE AND A BRAIN!"

Archlight's fire immediately died down. "That thing can see us!"

"To the Darkling!"

The pair of ghosts flew out of the room and into the ground. Calvin looked around. "I didn't see anything."

"Well, I did! And there's more all around you!"

A few ghosts were standing behind Calvin, just as Hobbes had seen

"Uh-oh," they said.


	2. My What a Guy, That Darkling

Meanwhile, in his underground cave, the Darkling sat watching a cheap little TV set. A gremlin-like monkey ghost, named Cojammer, was flipping channels on a remote by dancing across the numbers with his feet.

"Just find something and watch it!" hissed the Darkling. "STOP flipping!"

Cojammer ignored him. "Hey, the fun is in the flipping! What more could a guy ask for than to sit around and watch one hundred and twenty channels in thirty seconds?"

"I'd rather be sucking souls."

Terroreyes rushed in, followed by Archlight. "Boss! There's a tiger at that camp that can see us when we're invisible!"

The Darkling expressed his anger by smacking Cojammer across the cave. "Curses! Some animals have that power! Before he can interfere with our mission, scare him out!"

"There's also a kid," added Archlight. "Should we scare him, too?"

"Fine, fine! I just want that tiger out of here!" shouted the demon. "Oh, I'll never be brought back at this rate..."

Cojammer hopped up, unhurt by his flight. "Yes you will!"

(sung to the tune of "Gaston")

Cojammer: **_Gosh, it sure pains me to see you, Darkling_**

_**Sitting down here in this pit**_

_**True, as far as humor can go**_

_**Other ghosts have much more wit**_

_**But there's no ghost around who's as evil as you**_

_**You're every ghostbuster's worst fear**_

_**You're an awesome guy and in tribute to you**_

_**We ghosts put together this cheer**_

_**No one throws like Darkling**_

_**No one's strange like Darkling**_

_**When shape-shifting, no one can change like Darkling**_

_**No one's a terror and an amazement**_

_**You're always an omen of doom**_

_**No one's spooky and oh, so disturbing**_

_**And can the lower temperature of a steam room!**_

Ghosts: **_No one freaks like Darkling_**

_**Makes pipes leak like Darkling**_

_**Can make a strong human so weak like Darkling!**_

Darkling: **_To religious figures, I'm intimidating!_**  
Ghosts: **_My what a guy, that Darkling_**

_**Give five "hurrahs"**_

**_Give twelve "hip-hips"_**  
Cojammer:**_ Darkling is the best_**

_**And the rest is all drips**_

Ghosts: **_No one scares like Darkling_**

_**Pulls kids' hairs like Darkling**_

_**No one makes all humans beware like Darkling**_

_**For there's no one as bloody or gory...**_

Darkling: **_The forces of evil are mine_**  
Ghosts: **_He's got some great haunting stories_**  
Darkling: **_That's right! As far as demons go, I'm especially fine!_**

Ghosts: **_No one's weird like Darkling_**

_**No one's feared like Darkling**_

**_No one's got a horrifying leer like Darkling_**  
Darkling: **_Humans get heart-attacks by looking at me...BOO!_**  
Ghosts: **_Ten points for Darkling!_**  
Darkling: **_When I was a mere imp, I'd always hide out_**

_**In an ancient Ouija board**_

_**And when I was summoned, I ruined the lives**_

**_Of the dumb kids who called me, because they were bored_**  
Ghosts: **_No one's cool like Darkling_**

_**We're all fools, 'cept Darkling**_

**_No one haunts buildings, houses, and schools like Darkling_**  
Darkling: **_I specialize in run-down cemeteries_**

Ghosts: **_So let's all toast_**

_**To this ghost of a ghost**_

_**And let's say it once more**_

_**Who's the specter next door?**_

_**Who's a super success?**_

_**Don't you know?**_

_**Can't you guess?**_

_**Who's the one ghost around**_

_**Who's got all of it down?**_

Cojammer: **_Well, his names' G-A-S-T-O-N!_** Wait, that's not it...

Ghosts: **_DARKLING!_**

There was a pause as all the ghosts that had flown in looked around awkwardly, wondering what just happened. The Darkling finally broke the silence. "Now that our random musical number is over, LOOK FOR THAT KID! And scare the boy and his tiger out of here!" The Darkling smashed his claw down, sending a huge vibration through the cave. Quivers was the first to fly out, followed by the rest.


	3. Scared Out of Camp

Back at camp, Calvin and Hobbes walked through the halls. Hobbes was naming the various ghosts he saw. Calvin didn't really believe him, but was interested about what his tiger said.

"There's a large spider up there..." Hobbes was saying, "and a cat on the TV...and a few sprites outside...and a Headless Horseman riding right for us."

They both did a double take. A huge flaming Headless Horseman was running down the hall, leaving flaming hoofmarks! A few kids in his path jumped out of the way.

"I can see the ghost, too!" screamed Calvin. The two of them ran the opposite direction, and around a small corridor. Waiting for them was a different corpse, this one named Static. Bolts of lightning rained from his hands.

"AAAHHH! Evil corpse!"

Calvin and Hobbes ran into the bathroom and glanced in the mirror to see their reflections had turned into skeletons.

"AAAHHH! Demented reflection!"

Running out of the bathroom, the boys found a mob of ghosts swarming around their heads.

"AAAHHH! Other things!"

In terror, they ran outside. Several sprites were waiting. One, named Aether, let out an incredibly loud shriek, sending Calvin and Hobbes running into the distance, through the wind and rain.

As the others ran around scaring those two, the Darkling told the two smallest ghosts, Firetail and Sparkle, a pair of ghost newts who had the power to spread fires, to continue searching for a child to preform the ritual.

"I am insulted!" said Firetail. "Just because we are the smallest ghosts, we have to keep searching instead of scaring!"

"Yes, it is a pity that we can't use our fire power to terrify these children," sighed Sparkle. "Worst of all, it shall take us forever to locate whomever we are looking for!"

"Wait! I have an idea! We shall recruit another ghost to help us!"

"Who isn't helping?"

The newts turned to a ghost hound named Buck snoozing next to them.

"Buck!" called Firetail. "WAKE UP!"

Sparkle set the dog's tail on fire, waking him.

"Hey! I'm the one with the name 'Firetail!' I should have done that!"

"Buck," Sparkle told him, "we want you to help us sniff out the child that can restore the Darkling!"

Using his nose, Buck sniffed out Ed, who sat in a closet, reading an "Evil Tim" comic. The newts gasped with happiness! It was the kid they were looking for!

"Look at that boy!" cried Firetail.

"Look at his comic!" cheered Sparkle. "He's the one!"

Eddy and Edd walked in, not seeing the invisible ghosts.

"Ed? Are you still reading that crap?" said Eddy, glancing into Ed's comic.

"But it is so good, Eddy!" said Ed, not even looking up. "See, here Evil Tim is summoning an evil batch of cows to go and do evil things evilly!"

The newts did a victory waltz down the hall.

Firetail and Sparkle: **_No one's bored like Darkling_**

_**Gives rewards like Darkling**_

_**And for real estate, no one's insured like Darkling**_

Finishing their reprise, they jumped onto Buck and road away.

_**And we'll help him in his great quest for evil**_

_**Boy, what a guy**_

_**Darkling!**_

"'And for real estate, no one's insured like Darkling?'" said Buck. "That's just stupid." Firetail looked confused. "I didn't know you could talk!"

"Yeah, there's a lot of things you don't know."


	4. The Pool Inciddent

The two newts were soon talking to Darkling. Buck fell asleep on the spot.

"So the odd yellow boy is the one, you say? Well, WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING ON HIM!" roared the Darkling. The newts scrambled away, and up to the earth's surface. "Sorry, sir! We'll go, sir!" The huge beast pinned their tails down using one of his massive claws. "No, I've already used you. Get me Ghastly!"

A dark flame appeared on the floor. It grew, and out stepped Ghastly, a creepy-looking man with two hooks for hands. "Am I the man whom you have chosen, oh, master?"

The Darkling had always sort of liked Ghastly. There was something...ghastly about Ghastly. "Do all you can to get the yellow boy and his friends to sniff out the book for me! The ritual WILL be preformed!"

Ghastly flew back above ground, and saw Edd. "Ah, strange shockheaded one...I will now take possession of the creature." Ghastly plunged one of his huge hooks not into Edd's body, but straight into his soul. The possessed boy walked over to Eddy.

"Eddy..." Edd said slowly, "I think...we should have Ed...preform a ritual...to summon the Darkling..."

"What are you talking about?"

"The kids may...like it...they will pay...big money..."

"Big money? That's better than small money! Okay, let's do it!"

"I do not...know where it...is located...we need Ed...to help us find...and preform it...then, we will get...the money..."

"Hey, lumpy! Get over here and help us out!"

Ed happily hopped up and started searching the room. "Oh, boy! Just like Evil Tim!"

Meanwhile, Calvin and Hobbes were running towards the pool building.

"Hobbes!" panted Calvin. "The ghosts are after us!"

"I know that. It's why we're running."

"Oh. Okay."

They heard a galloping sound behind them and turned around to see the Headless Horseman chasing them.

"I forgot about him," said Hobbes.

They ran into the pool building, and tripped, falling into the pool. Raindancer and Wavemaster, two other sprites, made waves and whirlpools, blowing Calvin and Hobbes around in the water.

"I want to leave the state, just because of the ghosts!" screamed Calvin, trying to stay afloat. Boo and Wendell dove in and out of the water, making huge splashes. Quivers, who never liked getting wet, sat in the corner with a towel. Cojammer stood at the edge of the pool.

"Hey, kid!" he screeched. "Here's something a little...shocking!"

By sticking one of his creepy little fingers in the pool, Cojammer sent a huge bolt of electricity through the water, zapping Calvin and Hobbes. The entire room lit up. When the light vanished, the ghosts were gone as well. Hobbes crawled out of the water.

"'Here's something a little...shocking,'" he said. "Talk about a bad joke, huh? ...Calvin?"

Hobbes turned to see Calvin's body is floating face-down in the water. He was dead.

* * *

Well...the story certanly did change its tone...and yes, Calvin IS dead. That's the body. The dead body. Yep.


	5. Ghostbusters

Hobbes sat in silence. The Eds walked in, still looking for the book.

"It could be in here..." Edd was saying.

"Hey, it's Hobbes!" said Ed, unaware of what just happened to Calvin.

"You seen a ritual book around here?" asked Eddy.

"Calvin..." Hobbes said quietly. "He's dead."

Edd gasped. "Dead? Oh, my! Eddy, we better stop this search, and focus our attention on what to do!"

"Yeah, you're right..." said Eddy. A dead friend meant much more to Eddy than money...not that much, mind you. Ghastly hovered above them.

"Obviously, my possession is running a bit weak. Better add some more juice, then..." A new hook formed on Ghastly, giving him three. He plunged them into all the Eds at once. Hobbes saw Ghastly, but didn't care. He sat there in silence as the possessed Eds walked away.

"No...let us continue our...search..."

"Indeed..."

"Buttered...toast..."

Below the earth, the Darkling still sat. Boo nervously flew in. He had been sent in by the others, who weren't sure what drove them over the edge and killed Calvin. Sure, they had fun chasing Calvin and Hobbes around, but there was a big difference between scaring someone and killing them. A ghost like Boo wasn't afraid of any other ghost, no matter how disturbingly twisted they were. But the Darkling, despite the fact he could do nothing, was terrifying to Boo. Deep in Boo's transparent head, he had the feeling that he was under the Darkling's control, but he was unable to resist it.

"Uh...Mr. Darkling, sir?" he started, "...we just killed that kid."

"Yes, and I will reward Cojammer for that."

"Well, we shouldn't have done that...it was bad, and most of us feel guilty...we CAN use our powers to restore him, you know..."

The Darkling glared at him with a look of pure hatred. "You will do no such thing! The boy and his tiger were threats to us! As long as we picked one off, we will be fine! Now, continue the search!"

Boo literally shrank and flew away.

"My control over the ghosts is running out," said the Darkling. "I must find the book soon, or the possession will wear off!"

Back at the pool, Jason and Marcus were watching through the windows.

"There's something weird going on here..." said Jason. "The kids are all scared out of camp, and it looks like the Eds have been possessed."

"And worst of al, Calvin's dead..." added Marcus.

"I can't believe this happened."

"We need to avenge the death of our friend! And I know how! We'll become Ghostbusters!"

About an hour later, Jason and Marcus marched into the camp building, dressed as ghostbusters. The entire place was empty, or so it seemed...the boys walked through the empty halls. Boo and several other invisible ghosts were behind them, inches away.

"Okay, boys! Make yourselves visible for the kiddies!"

"There could be ghosts anywhere!" said Jason.

"What do we do when we catch them?"

Jason pulled out what looked like a vacuum. "We suck them up and sell them!"

Marcus looked sad. "This isn't avenging Calvin! It's getting us money!"

"Hey, Calvin would want it this way!"

"Actually, he'd want in on the cash."

"Well, even so---"

At that moment, the Headless Horseman rode through the halls, laughing at them. Instead of being scared, Jason and Marcus were actually amused. "Cool!"

A slightly confused mob of ghosts swarmed around them, laughing evilly. Marcus just laughed. "This is awesome!"

Quiver, of course, was the first to give up. "They're not afraid? Even I'm afraid of you guys!"

Even the great Boo wasn't sure what to do. "What are we doing wrong?"

The ghosts flew away, wondering what to do next.

"After them!" yelled Jason, and chased the ghosts, ready for battle.

Jason and Marcus continued searching. Fingers, a corpse piano player sat in the corner. "It seems as if I need to expose the duo's fears. A little music, now..." A huge ghostly piano appeared in front of Fingers, who played a parlor tune. The musical notes flew after the boys, and swarmed into their heads. An animated thought bubble appeared, showing girls.

"Ah, so it's women they run from! This shall prove to be fun..."

Jason and Marcus walked around a corner, and ran into Blue Murder, a dead female cop. "Hey, boys. Ever made out with a corpse?"

"Oh, my God!" screamed Marcus. "It's a girl! And she likes us!" This made them tun away in horror. But there were more and more female ghosts around every corner, all after the boys. Finally, they reached the only safe place...the boys' bathroom. But when they looked into the mirror, their reflections turned into the faces of tow more ghost girls, Tricia and Lady Rose! This drove the boys out of the building followed by the laugher of the ghosts watching them run away.


	6. The Ritual

Hobbes was sitting alone outside in the rain, quietly. He wasn't quite sure what to do, now. Calvin's body was still at the pool, but was more importantly in Hobbes's heart. He wasn't going to do anything stupid like Jason and Marcus had, like go off an attempt to avenge Calvin's death through ghostbusting. But he couldn't just do nothing... As he thought, our three favorite ghosts, Boo, Wendell, and Quiver flew around, celebrating their victory.

"We like, totally busted those ghostbusters!" laughed Wendell. "Dude, there's so much irony there, it's not funny!" Boo noticed Hobbes. "Hey, check it out, guys! It's Mr. 'Sixth Sense' Tiger! You know, Quiver, you could actually scare him!"

Terrified as ever, Quiver approached Hobbes. "Uh...boo?" Hobbes turned around, and with a look of pure hatred, gave the fiercest roar he'd ever given. Quiver disappeared in terror. Boo and Wendell also decided to leave. "Wow, talk about an upset cat!"

The second the other two vanished, Snoopy, Woodstock, and Quincy came. Snoopy did the "speaking" for them, as he was the only one who could speak...sort of. "Hobbes? We can also see the ghosts. At least, I think Quincy can...it's hard to tell with this guy."

"It doesn't matter. We can't do anything about it..."

"What we need is an exorcism, and we've chosen a guy to do it...Linus!

Soon, Linus was standing with Snoopy, Woodstock, Quincy, and the now stuffed Hobbes. In his hands, Linus held an illustrated prayer book. "I don't know if this will work, but it's worth a try, right, Snoopy? Here it goes..." But before Linus could say anything, a huge windstorm started up by the sprites, blowing him away. Snoopy watched Linus disappear into the clouds and thought to himself, "That was pointless."

Once again, the animals were visited by the Darkling;s spokesghosts, Boo, Quivers, and Wendell.

"You shouldn't have done that, you filthy freaks!" hissed Boo. "The Darkling HATES Exorcists! We're gonna send you to a place where you can't bother us!" Using telekinetic powers, the three ghosts lifted the four animals in the air and dropped them into a Mario book that Wendell was holding. The animals all landed in a dark forest inside the book. "Stupid ghosts!" Hobbes said.

Upon hearing this, they were surrounded by a swarm of Boos, who never liked to hear insulted ghosts. "Now he's done it..." thought Snoopy.

Back around camp, the Eds were still looking for the book, this time in the bushes. "Maybe it's in here..." Eddy's possession at this point, was wearing off, so he was the first to crack. "Why are we even looking? The kids have all run away, so no one's even gonna watch us do the ritual!" Ghastly was, of course, sitting right by him, so a simple touch sent Eddy back into anti-free will mode and he quickly continued searching. Suddenly, Ed pulled out the book! "A book I've found!"

Edd took a close look at it. "Ed, you've done it! That book has the ritual!"

As always, the Darkling watched the boys from below. "Preform it! Preform it NOW!"

Above ground, the Eds joined hands and started chanting the odd words in the book. It was in a language that even Edd didn't know. Whatever it was, it was restoring the Darkling, for he soon began to form in front of them, slowly getting stronger. The boys noticed him and stopped.

"Look at the size of that bug, guys!" said Ed.

"Bug!" growled the Darkling. "Foolish mortal, you dare call me a bug! Continue the ritual!"

Ed didn't hear the Darkling and started dancing around the hulking spirit. "I can't wait to squash it!" Eddy wasn't that impressed, either. "We're summoning that thing? We must be crazy!" Edd, always one step ahead of the others, figured out what was really going on. "Someone's been pulling strings, Eddy! We've been tricked into doing something evil! I'll bet that the Darkling will suck out our souls the second the ritual is finished!" This delighted Ed even more. "Way cool! I want my soul sucked out!"

The Darkling was all-powerful, but anyone would have been driven crazy at this point, even him. "KEEP CHANTING! THE RITUAL WILL BE FULFILLED!" Ghastly calmly plunged his hooks into them. "Keep going, boys."

Like mindless drones, the Eds continued to say the strange words, but now in front of a cheering audience of horrifying ghosts.


	7. What Happened Next

The Eds were reaching the end of the ritual, when the Mario book Wendell was holding opened. A huge army of Boos (the Mario kind, not the ghost featured here) flew out. A huge Boo in an army helmet ked them. "Get the ghosts! They give us a bad name!" Hobbes and the other animals followed them. "We did it!" cheered Hobbes. "The Boos will get rid of those ghosts for sure!"

The other ghosts simply stared at the Boos, who were terrified, and flew away. After all, that trick always works in the video games. Snoopy looked hopeless. "Why did we think that would work?"

The Darkling let out a roar that made everyone turn to him. "No more interruptions! THEY give US a bad name! Keep going!" At that very second, a small ghost flew out of nowhere and grabbed the ritual book. He was wearing a red striped shirt, and looked very familier. To everyone's delight, it was Calvin's ghost! "You had me killed, Darkling! You won't be restored if there's no one to preform the ritual!"

"Stop him!" shouted the Darkling. Boo had a ghostly sword materialize and stood in front of the large group of ghosts like a military commander. "He's still a newby ghost! We can still get rid of him!" With a screeching battle cry, the ghosts all chased Calvin. Two rocky ghosts, Stonewall and Banzai, started hurling rocks at him. Calvin hid in a tree.

"Okay, newts!" called Archlight. "It's our turn to destroy the kid!" He, Firetail, and Sparkle set a few trees on fire, surrounding Calvin. He was trapped in a flamey inferno, but Calvin actually looked happy! "That's it! Say goodbye to the book, Darkling!" With that, Calvin tossed the book in the fire. With a pained expression, the Darkling watched his freedom and powers all burn up. "NO! That was the only way to restore me!"

As the book burned, any control the Darkling had on the once evil ghosts faded away. "Hey..." said Boo. "It's all coming back to me!"

"And me!" said Blair Wisp.

"And me!" said Fingers.

"And me!" said Buck.

"He can talk?" said Cojammer.

Ghastly showed some emotion for a change...even he smiled! "It appears that the Darkling used what was left of his powers on us, so he now has nothing!"

"No!"

"And" added Edd, "now that it's gone, you have to point to exist, knowing you can never return!"

Everyone watched as the Darkling faded, as he screamed, "It's all over! I'm gone! I'm gone! I'm gone! ..." But that, like him, faded as well. Then, all was silent.

"Wow," said Eddy.

"Although we cannot restore the Darkling, we can still save the boy," suggested Wisperwind. The ghosts all concentrated. Suddenly, Calvin was normal! "You're alive!" said Hobbes.

Not knowing what to do next, Edd started to leave. "That was quite an interesting experience, although I'd rather not have it again." Ed followed. "It was a dream come true!"

Calvin noticed Boo studying a map that he had materialize."So now where are you guys gonna go?"

Boo looked embarrassed and sad as he rolled up the mad and had it disappear. "Uh...I hate to say this, but we don't really know what's gonna happen. We always had the choice of passing over to the other side, but we love this earth too much to leave it, even if we can come back sometimes...but I wonder, is it really worth staying here? I hate to say, no matter how much I rant about how great it is to be a ghost...it's not really the time of your life..."

Wendell laughed. "'The time of your life!' That's priceless!"

"There was no pun intended."

Quiver picked up from where Boo had left off. "We were just floating along when the Darkling came. As awful as he was, he made us feel wanted. We had a point, we could haunt places, we could sing songs..."

"You can still sing songs now," said Hobbes.

Boo sighed and flopped to the ground. "There's nothing to sing ABOUT! It's not like I'm sad the Darkling's gone or anything, he was probably gonna destroy us when he was restored, but now we've got nothing at all...but we've caused you too much trouble. I'm sorry. We better be going now."

The ghosts sadly picked up whatever their belongings were and started to float away in their strange group. Suddenly, a lone Mario Boo flew over. "Well, actually, I had an idea. (Could you not look me in the eye? Thanks.) I think you guys would make great video game characters! Think about it." The Boo flew away. The ghosts all looked at each other.

"Video games ARE totally cool..." said Wendell.

"But we should change the plot," suggested Sparkle.

Boo was clearly getting into this idea. "Yeah, we'll make it into a sorta simulation-style game with us trying to haunt houses! And we would be trying to restore the Darkling OURSELVES so he'd be on our side!"

"Uh...Darkling won't like that," said Quiver.

But Boo already had the idea in his head, and there was no stopping him now. "What's HE gonna do about it! Let's go, ghosts! We have a purpose!" The ghosts cheered and flew away. The clouds parted, and the kids watched as the ghosts flew into the sunset. In the distance, they could also see Linus in a tree he had landed in after he was blown away.

"Bye, guys! Good luck!" called Calvin. Hobbes was curious. "Why do you think they wanted to change the plot?"

"Probably they assumed we'd want a bit of the money, so they could write us out and not legally have to give us anything," said Edd.

"WHAT!" yelled Eddy. "Those rats!" Eddy and Calvin ran after the ghosts. "Get back here, creeps! We want that money, too!"

Hobbes sighed and walked away with the others. This story certainly beat "The Haunted House That Had a Curse With a Whole Lot of Blood and Gore!"

THE END

* * *

Told you Calvin was really dead...but I never said I wouldn't bring him back!


End file.
